Abstract Many colleges and universities are purchasing small time-sharing systems, at relatively low cost. For example, IBM has introduced a new facility which permits up to 31 teletype connections and, when operated at minimum configuration, requires monthly operating costs of less than $8,000. Furthermore, business schools do not have their own computer, nor must they be connected with a large university which supports a computer. Commercial time-sharing is readily available from several sources, regardless of geographic location. Discounted rates are usually provided for educational use. Fixed costs are typically under $100 per month for the rental of teletype, including maintenance. Cost of operating terminals runs from about $8 to $13 per terminal hour of use, and are expected to be reduced with improvements in hardware and software. According to a survey reported in a recent issue of the journal Datamation, education is the fourth largest user of time-sharing. The increased availability of time-sharing systems and low entry cost have prompted many schools of business to obtain teletype terminals either by outright purchase or through rental contracts.

Abstract The article focuses on exposing first-semester accounting students to accounting periodicals. Since many introductory accounting courses include a substantial amount of bookkeeping-type work, students often develop a conception of accounting as a dry and unstimulating field. This viewpoint can often be radically altered by exposing first-semester accounting students to the activities of professional accountants. In order to expose the first-semester introductory accounting students to the activities of accountants and to give them a much broader perspective of accounting than can be derived from their textbooks, each of the students are required to select an article from one of several accounting periodicals and prepare a written report on the article. Students are encouraged to select articles that are both interesting and understandable to them. They are asked to avoid overly technical articles such as those dealing with complex tax matters. Most students are able to find suitable articles in recent issues of The Journal of Accountancy. Other recommended sources of accounting articles are The Accounting Review, Management Accounting and The Federal Accountant.

Abstract In a recent unpublished paper entitled Questions of Metric, Stafford Beer cites some letters to the newspaper, London Times, addressed to a question of social change. The issue concerned the seven hundred years old Norman Church of St. Michael of Stewkley, which stands square in the middle of a possible runway of a possible Third London Airport, not by design surely. A cost benefit analysis had been made by a commission for each alternative site of the proposed airport. It is really astonishing how many crisis-numbers are being thrown at the public these days. They all describe what programmers call the rate of activity in a certain sector of society. Since often the rate of activity, pollution or poverty or information, spread yields uneasy or horrible feelings, people and politicians are apt to conclude that something must be done to lessen the rate, or even to make it negative. But even if the disinterested observer is telling us about real impending disaster provided an activity continues to increase, it by no means follows that he is telling us about real social change in a pragmatic sense.

Abstract Reviews the book "Principles of Engineering Economy," 5th ed., by Eugene L. Grant and W. Grant Ireson.

Abstract Reviews the book "A Statement of Australian Accounting Principles," by W.J. Kenley.

Abstract Reviews the book "Elements of Income Tax--Individual," by Grant C. Schafer.

Abstract The article focuses on management representation as the first step towards independent audits of management. Economist Robert W. Clarke developed a rational case for extension of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA's) attest function in corporate annual reports' and economists Harold Q. Langenderfer and Jack C. Robertson presented a theoretical structure for independent audits of management. These authors pointed out the demand for additional information about management and managerial activities and suggested forms of attest extension and management auditing as potential approaches for satisfying this demand. Langenderfer-Robertson perceived management auditing in the context of independent audits of management representations in relation to the widely accepted use of the term management audit to describe evaluations or audits for management. According to Clarke, the term independent audits of management representations was used to connote an attestation context of auditing whereby credibility is added to the representations made by one party to another through the expert opinion of an independent third party.

Abstract Reviews the book "Economic Accounting and Development Planning," by Brian Van Arkadie and Charles R. Frank.

Abstract Recently a study was conducted to determine some of the effects of accounting majors who take courses in their major field of study on the satisfactory-unsatisfactory grading basis. One by-product of the option originally intended to allow students a more free-ranging choice of courses and reduce some of the tensions arising out of the emphasis upon grade averages is that students majoring in accounting are scheduling courses in their major field on the satisfactory-unsatisfactory basis. This may be reducing some of the tensions arising out of emphasis upon grade averages, but it does not seem to encourage students to select courses outside their major academic areas. The study indicates that on average better students in terms of prior academic performance are choosing the satisfactory-unsatisfactory option. On average, these students did not perform as well as those students on the conventional grading system. Also, they did not perform to the full extent of their capabilities indicated by their previous grade-point averages, both overall and in accounting.

Abstract One of the major criticisms of accountants in recent years has been their failure to present financial statements which have current relevance. Several individuals and groups have published theoretical descriptions of accounting systems based either partly or wholly on some form of current value. This, however, has not completely solved the problem since little or no work has been done to investigate the feasibility or practical implications of these models. There are several reasons for the lack of innovation aimed at improvement of the relevance of published financial statements. The public, investors, analysts and small creditors, do not have the direct power that management and large lenders have to demand more relevant statements. Corporate accountants have in large measure tended to concentrate on refining existing techniques rather than developing basic new methods of presenting information. For these reasons, the lead in determining the feasibility of the current-value-based models has fallen mainly to the academic accountant, who has a minimum of vested interest in maintaining the status quo and a maximum interest in improving statement presentation.